THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 135 



ROBBER-FLY AND TIGER-BEETLE. 



On August 21st, 1909, Avhile walking across a young orchard 

 in Peachland, B.C., I flushed a tiger-beetle which flew a few 

 yards. Seeing that it was of a species new to me, I promptly 

 followed it. 



Again it flew, but was at once pounced upon by a large robber- 

 fly, Proctacanthus milberti Macq., which had been poised on a 

 weed near by. 



As the fly flew heavily away with its prey, I netted both. 

 The robber refused to be parted from its dinner, and both were 

 put in the cyanide bottle. Although but a few seconds had 

 elapsed from the seizing of the tiger by its enemy, the poor thing 

 was quite dead, the robber's proboscis having pierced its body 

 exactly between the elytra and about one-quarter of the length 

 of the body from its base. 



The beetle proved to be Cicindela purpurea, and, strange to 

 say, is the only one I have seen during three visits, each of several 

 weeks, to the valley. 



J. B. Wall!S. 



NOTES ON THE DEATH FEINT OF CALANDRA 



ORYZ^ LINN. 



BY HARRY B. WEISS, NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. 



In the course of some fumigation work against this insect, 

 which is the common widely distributed "rice weevil," it was 

 noticed that the duration of its death feint was exceedingly brief 

 — so brief, in fact, as to cause one to wonder of just what value 

 such a brief feint was to the weevil. The duration of each feint 

 was ascertained in a number of weevils, and the following table 

 gives the length of time in seconds of the first twenty-fi-ve feints 

 in six different weevils. The temperature during these operations 

 was 75°F., and the feint was induced by blowing upon the insect's 

 ventral side or by dropping it through the space of one inch. 

 When dropped from a height of six or eight inches, or more, 

 no feint was produced, the weevils in all cases becoming im- 

 mediately active. 



May, 1913 



